


You've Got Something I Need

by NatRogers



Series: A Little Favor ‘verse [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Romanogers - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A Little Favor, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Family, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Isabel Romanoff Rogers, Marriage, Mixing Business with Pleasure, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Search for fulfillment, Slow Burn, Songs that inspired A Little Favor, links to spotify, romanogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatRogers/pseuds/NatRogers
Summary: “So what does make you happy, Natasha Romanoff?” Steve asks, his gaze fixated on the leather of his shoes. “What do you truly live for?”Snippets of Steve and Natasha's journey to finding happiness.





	You've Got Something I Need

**Author's Note:**

> Songs that inspired key moments (as voted by the lovely Tumblr fam!) from [A Little Favor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924780/chapters/34574921)
> 
> Listen to the entire playlist on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/6q8a9r9otov7zomnes1l8gl2u/playlist/3JEXzYiSE0MyLO9viZq9LQ?si=WwqLKvFORGuXjQnt2LgMWA).
> 
> Thank you to [Faith2nyc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith2nyc/pseuds/Faith2nyc) for letting me use her edits for this project! Please check out more of her work on [Tumblr](https://faith2nyc.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Faith2nyc_IG), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/faith2nyc_romanogers/)! 

**Broken**

**_I like that you're broken_**  
**_Broken like me_**  
**_Maybe that makes me a fool_**  
**_I like that you're lonely_**  
**_Lonely like me_**  
**_I could be lonely with you_**  
  
 

“So what does make you happy, Natasha Romanoff?” Steve asks, his gaze fixated on the leather of his shoes. “What do you truly live for?”

Natasha sits stunned for a second, his question catching her off guard. “Hmm,” she says as she contemplates her answer. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know, or too afraid to want it?”

“You secretly a shrink, Rogers?”  Natasha asks, a delicate brow raised at him.

“Hardly,” he answers. “My friend, Sam, is though. And he’s been helping me… deal.” He looks up at her from under the ridiculously long fan that is his eyelashes and sees her eyebrow raised in question again, but he waives her inquiry off. “He asked me the same question, and I’m really at a point where I don’t know.” He sits up straighter and shrugs. “For years, I thought it was serving my country, and I still love this country profoundly, but after everything?” Natasha nods in understanding at this, knowing the story all too well. “And then I thought it was Sharon, but you know how that ended.”

This time, it's Natasha’s turn to feel anger at his words at the mention of his ex and as memories of what she did to him resurfaces, but she pushes the feeling away just as he did a while ago. “I thought it was being successful,” she begins. “Making it in Manhattan as a journalist, being able to return even a fraction of the favor that Nick and Melinda did for me growing up…” she pauses, swallowing a ball that’s suddenly formed at her throat at the mention of the two people who’d practically raised her. “And it wasn’t Matt, either, so I guess we’re on the same boat.”

“Well, aren’t we tragic?”

* * *

**Ruin the Friendship  
** **Song recommended by:[russianwidow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/russianwidow)**

 ** _Your body's looking good tonight_**  
**_I'm thinking we should cross the line_**  
**_Let's ruin the friendship, let's ruin the friendship_**  
**_Do all the things on our minds_**  
**_What's taking us all this time_**  
**_Let's ruin the friendship, let's ruin the friendship_**  
  


Steve appears at the doorway, and the first thing Natasha notices is that the hard lines that were on his face this morning are back. He steps foot into the room, closing the door behind him, and begins to unbutton his shirt before tossing it into the hamper. Her hands itch to touch his flawless skin, but she finds that she overwhelmingly wants to know what’s wrong with him more. She frowns, recognizing that she doesn’t know how to read him. She’s never seen him this bothered by anything in the years she’s known him, so she’s not sure if it’s what’s been bothering him all day or her comments a while ago. And because she’s not sure what it is exactly, she decides to make amends for the thing she’s sure struck him the wrong way. She sits up, letting the comforter fall as she makes her way over to him. She’s completely bare, as he requested, but she can’t bring herself to care right now as she comes to cup his face in her hands. His eyes close on contact. “I didn’t mean it that way,” she says, her thumbs grazing his cheekbones.  

“I didn’t mean it that way,” she says, her thumbs grazing his cheekbones. He opens his eyes, and secretly, she wonders if she’ll ever find a better shade of blue. But his expression is still hard to read, so she goes on. “A while ago,” she clarifies. “What I said about you being the perfect specimen. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded-”

He cuts her off with a kiss. It’s chaste, but her skin still tingles just the same as his hands come to rest on the bare skin of her waist. He pulls away, his forehead leaning against hers. “I know.”

“Then what-”

He sighs. “Can I just lose myself in you right now?”

* * *

**Messy  
** **Song recommended by:[Nadine98](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadine98)**

 ** _If there's a line, I think that we crossed it_**  
**_Second time you stayed the night_**  
**_If there's a cool, then I think that I lost it_**  
**_And I should take my own advice_**  
**_Last stop before it gets messy_**  
**_Last stop before it gets heavy_**  
**_It's not too late to say you never met me_**  
**_Let's stop before it gets messy_**  
  


“Can I tell you something?” Natasha asks, her head turned towards Steve as she breaks the silence. He nods. “I want nothing more than to be pregnant, believe me, but I am going to miss you when I am.”

“That’s the oxytocin talking,” he jokes, a teasing look on his face. She lets out a chuckle and he puts a hand over the one she has on her belly. “It’s not like I’m going to be appalled by you once you are. You’ll still have me.”

“Not this way though,” she says quietly, almost like an admission.

“I’ll always be your lunch buddy. And maybe your sparring partner again when it’s safe.”

“Yeah,” she says with a small smile on her lips. He swings his legs over the side of her bed, reaching down for his boxers when he feels her hand on his arm. He looks back at her. “Do you want to stay?”

He looks down at the hand she has on his arm and then back up at her. His voice is low and cautious. “That’s not in our contract.”

“Neither was making me dinner after a bad day,” she counters softly before shrugging. “We both know what we are and what we aren’t, right?”

He lets her words linger between them for a moment. She isn’t wrong – they’ve always been incredibly honest with each other from the very beginning about what they wanted out of each other and staying the night wasn’t going to change any of that. So, he nods. “Right.”

* * *

**Never Be The Same  
**

**_It's you, babe_**  
**_And I'm a sucker for the way that you move, babe_**  
**_And I could try to run, but it would be useless_**  
**_You're to blame_**  
**_Just one hit of you, I knew I'll never be the same_**  
  


“So, tell me,” Natasha says, taking a sip of her wine before shifting in place on the counter. “What kind of pick-up line can you concoct from being a captain in the Army, a talented artist, and a damn good cook?”

“Former captain,” Steve corrects. “And mentioning rank to impress a girl was always more Bucky’s thing than it was mine.”

“Does that mean you’ve done it then?” she asks.

He looks at her to see her looking at the ground, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “Are you asking if I’ve ever mentioned my rank to impress a girl or if I’ve done it to impress a girl recently?”

She’s silent for a moment, her eyes trained on the ground. “Sounds like a good way to pick up some Italian siren,” she says eventually before shrugging. “Not that you shouldn’t.”

She tries to frame her words with a teasing tone, but he sees right through it. He shuts the tap off, placing the last dish on the rack before he dries his hands on a dish towel. He moves to stand between her legs. “Natasha,” he says, and as her eyes meet his reluctantly, he sees all the doubt and betrayal swimming in her pools of green and he just knows, with every single bone in his body, that he’s never wanted to inflict pain on Matt Murdoch more than he does at this moment for making her feel this way. “When you said that I was the only person you’d trust to ask of this, did you mean that?”       

“Of course,” she says almost instantly as her gaze returns to the ground. “Look, I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business. This is my third glass-”

He tucks a finger under her chin, gently tilting her head back to assure that she’s looking right at him. “Then trust me when I say that it’s just you, Nat,” he affirms. “Just you. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

* * *

**Stranded**

**_If it's coming over you, like it's coming over me_**  
**_I'm crashing like a tidal wave that drags me out to sea_**  
**_And I want to be with you, you want to be with me_**  
**_I'm crashing like a tidal wave_**  
**_And I don't want to be_**  
**_Stranded_**  
  


“Can I be honest with you?” Steve asks.

Natasha sighs. “I thought you were always honest?”

He chuckles at that, and she can imagine him rolling his eyes at her quip. “I am.” She hears him sigh before he whispers, “I hated everything about that night at Dalton’s. I hate that I had to pretend like I wasn’t the first to know. I hate that they got to see the sonogram before I did… And I hate that it was Strange that got to take you home.”

A lump forms in her throat at his words, but she swallows it down as the admission falls freely from her lips. “I wanted to leave because I didn’t want to watch you with Kristen.”

“I think we have a lot to talk about when we get home,” he says after a while.

“I think we do,” she says, and then adds, “it’s as big as a fig.”

"What?” His tone is confused, and she wishes she could reach over to smooth the lines she knows are forming on his forehead.

“The baby,” she clarifies. “The doctor says it’s as big as a fig now.”

He lets out a noise that sounds very much like a gasp. “A little fig,” he says, astonishment bleeding into his tone. “That’s amazing.”

“It is,” she agrees. It’s a wonder, how much lighter her heart feels at this very moment. She sighs. “Merry Christmas, Steve.”

“Merry Christmas, Nat.”

* * *

**Soldier**

**_I know you don't believe it_**  
**_But I said it and I still mean it_**  
**_When you heard what I told you_**  
**_When you get worried, I'll be your soldier_**  
  


Steve makes it to the top and down the hall to the main door, and as he exits, he sees two paramedics approaching. He closes the distance between them, and lays Natasha on the stretcher. “She’s twelve weeks pregnant and took a big fall,” he informs them as they wheel her towards the back of the awaiting ambulance.

He’s about to climb into the back where a paramedic is already tending to Natasha, when the other stops him. “I’m sorry, sir, but are you family?”

He pauses, but then Pepper’s voice is suddenly intruding. “Let me, I’ll go with her.”

“Are you family?” the paramedic asks.

“No,” Pepper says. “But-”

From where he’s standing amidst all the chaos, the words just seem to slip right out. “I’m the father.”

“He is,” Natasha says softly, keeping her eyes on Steve even as everyone else’s turn to her as she sits upright against the stretcher. “He’s the father.”

Her confirmation is the trump card, and as he’s ushered into the ambulance, he hears a promise from Pepper to be right behind them. The doors close behind him, and he hears the siren go off as they begin to move. The paramedics direct him to take a seat on the bench to the right, and he scoots up to sit by her head. “That was quite an entrance you made back there,” he says, his voice low as he tucks a loose tendril of hair behind her ear.

“Had to get your attention somehow,” she teases with a shrug, and despite the smirk on her lips, her eyes look uncertain as she adds, “that was quite an act out there, too.”

“Who’s acting?”

* * *

  **Cold Little Heart**

 _ **Did you ever want it? Did you want it bad?**_  
_**Oh, my, it tears me apart**_  
_**Did you ever fight it? All of the pain**_  
_**So much power, running through my veins**_  
_**Bleeding, I'm bleeding**_  
_**My cold little heart**_  
_**Oh I, I can't stand myself**_  
  


"Natasha, please,” she hears Steve say close behind her. “I know what that looked like-”  

“I’ll come back for the rest of my things,” she cuts in, turning back his way. She’d underestimated how close he’d actually been behind her, and she’s forced to take a step back to put some reasonable distance between them.

“Your things?” He spits the words out and it sounds like they left a bitter taste in his mouth, but she does not stay long enough to see if his expression confirms it as she begins to walk down the hall. He overtakes her though, walking around her in larger strides until he’s blocking her way. “What do you mean you’ll come back for your things?”

“The baby’s fine now,” she says in the steadiest voice she can gather. “I don’t have a reason to be here anymore.” She tries to sidestep him, but his reflexes are faster. “Steve.”

“Please, Nat, just give me a second,” he pleads, but his words slip right by her. She tries to get past him one more time, and he reaches for her arms to touch her. The moment his hands make contact, she flinches, and he retracts his hands back like she’s burned him. He gasps. “Natasha.”

She stands there frozen in shock. “Please,” she whispers.  

“Why won’t you look at me?”

Her eyes close at his words. “I can’t.

* * *

**Melt My Heart to Stone**

_**And I hear your words that I made up**_  
_**You say my name like there could be an us**_  
_**I best tidy up my head I'm the only one in love**_  
_**I'm the only one in love**_  
  


Natasha's attention falls to the Hamilton monument to her left, and then to the view of Belvedere Castle straight ahead as it towers over the frozen waters of Turtle Pond, and despite having been here more times then she can count, something about this exact view feels eerily familiar. It hits her, suddenly, and a humorless chuckle escapes her lips as she realizes why that is. She’s sitting on the exact same bench she was on the day she had decided she wanted to become a mom. On instinct, her hand comes down to cup her already noticeable bump, a smile crossing her face and joy filling her bones as she holds the evidence of her wish soon coming true in her very hand. Excitement courses through her, thinking about how this time next year, she could possibly be taking her own child to feel the snow against their little hands. But her happiness fleets, fading as fast as it comes, and it angers her that she feels this way.

She exhales deeply, her breath condensing in the icy air before her eyes. She has no right to feel this way. How could she, when the man who has been astonishingly generous enough to give her the best gift she could ever be given without asking anything in return, is now willing to be a father to the child he helped create? How dare her heart feel like it’s about to burst with sorrow in her chest, when he’s done nothing but care for their child? How dare she feel like she’s lost someone that was never even hers to begin with, when she’s gotten more than she’s asked for? There wasn’t a speck of embellishment in the words she had told him. He is too good of a man for their child not to know him, and she couldn’t have chosen a better father for their child if she tried. She knows what it’s like to have to speculate about whether or not her father had loved her, and that’s not something she wants her child to ever have to ponder. Not when their father is Steve Rogers, a man whose love is nothing but pure and kind and unconditional, the type of love every child deserves to know.

But then his words ring loud and clear in her head: _I know you’re not interested in love. I’m not either. In fact, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to a point where I’d be again._

Her eyes fall shut at the memory, a gasp slipping through her lips. And finally, she lets the tears fall free.  

* * *

**Slow Dancing in a Burning Room**

**_I was the one you always dreamed of_**  
**_You were the one I tried to draw_**  
**_How dare you say it's nothing to me_**  
**_Baby, you're the only light I ever saw_**  
  


“I think I’m going to take the job in London.”

Natasha's words cause the smile on Steve's face to fall. “What?” he asks incredulously. “What happened to being unable to leave this city? What about the baby?”

“We have joint custody, remember?” she says hotly, planting her feet to halt their dance. “Where I live doesn’t really matter.”

"Yeah, I remember," he spits out angrily. "I... just- Why, Natasha? What could I have possibly done for you to decide that you have to hurt me?”

“Hurt you?” she asks in disbelief, as if she’s trying to clarify his words. “Everything I do now seems like an attempt to avoid just that. I can’t even breathe anymore without thinking if it’ll hurt you, because that’s the last thing I want to do. But- God, Steve, you didn’t even want me-” she stutters for a second, but she composes herself just as fast. “You didn’t even want this baby.”

He goes rigid at her words. “How could you say that?”

“It’s the truth,” she states. “I wanted a child, and you wanted a warm body, and somewhere along the way… You got to pick and choose what you get to walk away with. I don't really have a reason to stay, do I?" His first impulse is to tell her that she should stay because he loves her, he hesitates. His love had not been enough of a reason for Sharon to wait for him, and he doesn't dare find out if it would be enough for Natasha now. She smiles sadly at his silence. “That’s what I thought.”

* * *

**Can I Be Him**

_**You walked into the room and now my heart has been stolen**_  
_**You took me back in time to when I was unbroken**_  
_**Now you're all I want**_  
_**And I knew it from the very first moment**_  
_**Cause a light came on when I heard that song and I want you to sing it again**_  
  
'

"I sold the house because it wasn’t high enough," Steve says. 

A dumbfounded expression paints Natasha's features, her head tilting slightly to the side. “What?”

“The house I owned in Brooklyn, the one I told you I wanted to raise a family in,” he clarifies. “If we live there, you’re going to look out the window and see nothing but other houses, because, well, it’s only two stories high and at the end of a cul-de-sac. And I know you don’t want that.” Her lips part like she wants to speak, but she quickly presses them back together, and he takes that as a sign to continue. “I wouldn’t want that, either, because then I won’t be able to see the way your eyes light up when you stare at the city below. Because that look you get?” he asks, watching as she looks back down. “The one where your nose crinkles and your lips purse just a bit as something catches your attention? It’s one of my favorite sights in the world.”  He shakes his head. “You weren’t wrong.” His words cause her to look back up at him. “I do love this baby,” he says, stepping even closer to her as he erases the distance between them further. “But how could I not when it’s half you and I love you?” Her eyes widen at his words, and he lets a smile spread across his face. “I love you, Natasha Romanoff.”

“Steve,” she whispers, her lips quivering.

“I love you so much, Nat,” he affirms. “And I know… I know I’m an idiot for not telling you this sooner and for not telling you about it in the first place, but I want nothing more than for you to be happy. That’s why I sold the house."

She shakes her head as she stares down at their hands. “But what about your dream?”

“You are my dream,” he says with a smile.

* * *

**Marry Me**

_**Forever can never be long enough for me**_  
_**Feel like I've had long enough with you**_  
_**Forget the world now we won't let them see**_  
_**But there's one thing left to do**_  
_**Now that the weight has lifted**_  
_**Love has surely shifted my way**_  
_**Marry me**_  
  


“Nat?” Steve's eyes drop to the yellow packet next to her drink, and the corners of his mouth turn up in a nervous smile. “Got something for me?”

“Something like that,” Natasha says, catching her bottom lip between her teeth.

From where he stands, his head tilts to the side, his forehead creasing as he dries his hands with the dish towel. He walks around the island to stand in front of her, his hip resting on the edge of the counter as he appraises her. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

Her nerves quell at his question and she lets out a silent chuckle. It’s almost bizarre, the effect he has on her, that with just a few words and the sound of his voice, he can calm her heart that’s been pounding in her chest ever since she got up from her desk. “I came in here to ask you for a little favor.”

His eyebrows rise as he accepts the envelope from her. “This isn’t another contract, is it? Because, Nat, I thought we were over-” His words stop as his eyes fall to the document, and his lips curve into a smile as he looks up at her. “Well, this one might last us a lifetime.”

“Ideally,” she says with a little grin on her face, but it lasts but a second as she shakes her head. “You don’t have to sign it or say yes or whatever to it right now. Or maybe you don’t want to say yes, I don’t know. I was just thinking-”

He cuts her off by closing the distance between them, cupping her face between his hands as he tilts her head up towards him and leans down to kiss her. “I would like nothing more than for you to sass me for the rest of my life, Natasha Romanoff.”

* * *

**River of Tears**

_**Go 'head and wish me well**_  
_**I'll cry a wishing well**_  
_**I'll fly before I fail**_  
_**I'll set sail and drift away**_  
_**So I won't need you here**_  
_**Love sinks and hope floats**_  
_**In a river of tears**_  
 

Natasha walks over to the crib, reaching for the giraffe at the center to bring it to her face. Her eyes fall shut as the plush material rests against her skin. Tears spill from her eyes, leaving a hot trail down her cheeks as her heart tightens like a vice in her chest. It felt like just yesterday that Steve was showing her this room, newly painted and halfway put together. It had also only been hours ago that she had stood here with Sarah as they bonded over their excitement to meet the life growing inside of her, appreciating the space now that it was done. She puts the giraffe back, letting her hands fall to the rail, her fingers curling around the wood. She gasps at how cruel it is that circumstances can change in a blink of an eye.

“Nat,” she hears Steve call out. She turns to him, and the helplessness and unadulterated anguish on his face as he stands by the doorway are practically tangible. “We should go to bed,” he says, and it’s foreign to her ears, how defeated he sounds. “We can talk about this in the morning.”

“No need,” she says, her voice breaking as she walks past him.

“What?” he asks tightly, following her.

She stops mid stride, letting out a breath. “There’s nothing to talk about,” she says. “I’m not delivering this baby.”

* * *

**Unsteady**

_**Hold**_  
_**Hold on**_  
_**Hold on to me**_  
_**'Cause I'm a little unsteady**_  
_**A little unsteady**_  
  
 

“Nat, no,” Steve says quickly like a reflex, as if he somehow anticipated saying the words. His voice is heavily laced with panic that he almost does not recognize it. Every fiber of his being wills it not to be his, but the pit in his stomach that’s been sinking deeper as the night goes on, grounding him to this reality, reassures him that it is. “You heard what Helen said-”

“I know what Helen said,” Natasha cuts in, her expression hardening. “And I don’t care.” She shakes her head. “It’s too early.”   

“I know, baby,” he says softly as he walks towards her. His hands reach for her, landing just above her elbows. “But this is the only safe option for the both of you,” he reasons. “And we’ve read about this. At this stage, there’s a ninety-six percent chance-”

That is four percent too short,” she says, her stare growing icy as she pulls away from him.

“Helen didn’t say that complications might arise,” he says tightly, his eyebrows furrowing as he appraises her worriedly. “She said they will.”

“This isn’t just some… thing that resulted from a contract anymore. We listen to its heartbeat every night,” Natasha says brokenly. “You’ve seen all its fingers and toes. Felt it kick every time it hears your voice first thing in the morning.” She reaches up to swipe a tear away from his cheek with her thumb. “This is Fig, Steve.” He inhales sharply as she whispers, “I can’t lose our little Fig.”

“I can’t lose you,” he says.

She steps back, putting some distance between them again as she wipes away her own tears. “Continuing this pregnancy might kill me,” she says finally, nodding before she looks back at him. “But watching our child struggling, fighting for its life? That certainly will.”

* * *

**Head Over Feet**

_**You've already won me over in spite of me**_  
_**And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet**_  
_**And don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are**_  
_**I couldn't help it**_  
_**It's all your fault**_  
  
 

“Wanna talk about it?” Steve asks as he helps her up on the counter and stands between her legs. 

“Nah,” Natasha whispers, leaning her head back against the cupboard. “Tell me about your day instead.”

He turns back towards the stove before obliging her request, and as he recounts the events of his day – of how there is a possibility of opening a second gallery in the West Coast – she watches amusedly as he becomes more animated as his excitement about this upcoming project begins to bleed into his tone. He looks so carefree and relaxed right now, a side of him that he does not always show the world, and she finds that it’s one of the most beautiful sights she’s ever seen and something she absolutely adores about him. But, perhaps more saliently, she realizes that the anger that was burning hotly within her is suddenly nowhere to be found, replaced instead with a feeling of comfort and peace as she gets lost in the sound of his voice and in the beauty of his smile that reaches his eyes as he works to put the finishing touches on the sauce. What she was fuming over on her way here now seems inconsequential, irrelevant. And despite this not being her apartment, she feels an awful lot like she’s home.

“I’m hoping we can make a children’s wing in both galleries,” he says, his voice almost giddy as he reaches for the wine glass on the other side of the counter. “There could be work stations for arts and crafts and tables for puzzles.” He brings the glass up to his lips for a sip before setting it back down. “You know, some place Fig could one day-”

She does not let him finish his sentence as she pulls him to her by his tie, her lips immediately colliding with his. She sighs. “God, I really miss wine.”

He breaks out into laughter at that, his head tipping back, and the sound is a beautiful symphony to her ears.

* * *

**Waiting Game**

_**There's just this waiting game**_  
_**And I don't know how to play**_  
_**It's enough of a fight staying alive anyway**_  
  


Steve takes Natasha’s hand in both of his, the warmth of her skin anchoring him, a poignant reminder that while he couldn’t see her eyes or hear her voice, that she’s still here. “Hey,” he whispers, his gaze falling to her face. “I went to see our daughter. She’s… well, she’s perfect, Nat.” A smile grazes his lips, his eyebrow lifting in complete adoration. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And I’m not just saying that because we made her.” He scoffs at his own joke, knowing full well that his wife would make the same point. “The nurses say she’s an angel. At least when she’s warm. She hates the cold and isn’t shy about letting you know it.” He shakes his head. “And I know, I know what you’re going to say… This is my fault, because it always is when she’s being difficult, right?” He looks down at their intertwined hands, his thumb running over her knuckles. “I love her so much, Nat. So much. But I’m feeling way out of my depth here.” He sighs, letting the hot tears roll down his face. “I look at her, and it’s like I’m paralyzed because I don’t know... I don’t know what to do. I- I would do anything and everything for her, but I’m afraid it’s not going to be enough because she needs you.” His voice cracks on the last word, and he wipes his tears away with the back of his hand. “God, Nat, I need you.” He leans down, pressing a kiss to her hand. “But I’m going to try my best,” he swears, “because I promised you that I’m going to be the best father that I can be. And I know that you’re going to make it because you promised, too. And that’s what we do, right? You and me, we keep our promises.” Fresh tears roll down his eyes. “You promised that you could do this.” He looks at her face. “You promised,” he says, whispering the words like a prayer. “You promised.”

* * *

**Requiem on Water  
Song recommended by: [Nadine98](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadine98)**

_**And though your arms and legs are under**_  
_**Love will be the echo in your**_  
_**Ears when all is lost and plundered**_  
_**My love will be there still**_  
  


**Steve meets Isabel at the nursery**

“Hi,” Steve whispers. “Hi, baby girl. Remember me? I’m… your daddy.” A dam breaks, at least that’s what it feels like as a warmth floods through him and his eyes sting with unshed tears, but he swallows down the emotion as he carefully moves her to lie against his chest. Claire holds out a blanket, and he takes it as he settles it over the both of them. The baby calms down almost instantly, and a smile slowly breaks out across his face. “You’re the reason I’ve been getting up to make pancakes at two in the morning, huh?”

**Natasha holds Isabel for the first time**

“Hi, you,” Natasha whispers, her voice clipped as she looks down at the baby in her arms. “I know you. You’re the one throwing punches at my ribs.” She laughs, as does Steve, and he watches as her eyes become glassy with tears. “I love you,” she says, tears falling from her eyes as she leans down to press a kiss to the baby’s forehead. “Oh, momma loves you so much.”

Tears stream from Steve’s own eyes, and he wipes them away with the back of his hand before he bends down to wipe away Natasha’s.

“She’s perfect, Steve,” she says, and she loosens the blanket just a little to caress the little girl’s tiny fingers and toes. She looks up at him, and the love and admiration clouding her eyes is a feeling he’s instantly grown accustomed to in the days that have passed. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

He leans forward, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. “Thank you for coming back to us.”

**Isabel**

“Does she have a name yet?”

Natasha looks up at Steve, and he gives her a nod before she eyes Melinda at the front of the room. “Isabel,” she says, smiling. “Isabel Romanoff Rogers.”

"Oh, Natasha,” Melinda says with a small gasp. “She would have been honored.”   

“Strong and fearless,” Natasha says proudly. “Just like she was.”

* * *

**Chasing Cars**

_**If I lay here**_  
_**If I just lay here**_  
_**Would you lie with me and just forget the world?**_  
_**Forget what we're told**_  
_**Before we get too old**_  
_**Show me a garden that's bursting into life**_  
  
 

“Do you…” Natasha begins, slowly turning to find him with his eyebrows furrowed. She keeps her voice low, almost like she does not want him to hear her words. “Do you not want this life with me anymore?”

Steve's eyes widen. “What?”

“Natasha, there is nothing I want more than this life together,” he says, his tone rising at the end. His words silence her, a blustering emotion that she can’t quite place brewing intensely in his eyes as he looks directly at her. “Every single time I see you with our daughter, I feel like I’m losing my mind with how badly I want it.” He shakes his head. “I love you more and more every day.” His words come out so earnestly that it causes her to swallow, and she watches as tears well in his eyes. “And that’s only made me that much more scared of losing you.” His eyes fall shut as tears make it down his face. “Because for those five days?” he asks. “For those five days, I did. And it was just me and Izzie. And finding those letters…” He pauses, taking in a breath. “Finding those letters felt like our life without you was final.”   

“Steve, I didn’t…” she tries to speak, but she finds herself tongue tied as realization washes over her, heavy with the effect all this has had on him that she had failed to see.

“I didn’t mean to be so cold,” he whispers. “But I don’t want to be blindsided enjoying this ridiculously amazing life with you only to lose you because I was too caught up to see what’s coming.” 

“Oh, Steve.” She closes the distance between them, cupping his face in her hands. “I won’t make you anymore guarantees, because now we know life is anything but. But whatever amount of time we have? I want to spend that with you. All of you.” She reaches between them to bring one of his hands over her heart, letting him feel it beat against her chest. “I’m right here, Steve. Right here, right now. Alive.” A laugh escapes her lips despite her tears stinging her eyes. “And I miss you, you ass.”

* * *

**Hanging By a Moment**

_**I'm falling even more in love with you**_  
_**Letting go of all I've held on to**_  
_**I'm standing here until you make me move**_  
_**I'm hanging by a moment here with you**_  
  


“Do you remember that day in my office?” Natasha looks up at Steve, finding a smirk on his face and his eyebrow raised suggestively. She rolls her eyes. “That time you asked me what made me happy,” she clarifies. “And I didn’t know.” She nods towards Isabel. “I guess I just hope that that’s something she’ll never have to say. That, in her heart of hearts, she always knows what it is that sparks happiness in her.”

“I hope so, too,” he says eventually, looking out into the lake. “But even if she doesn’t know right off the bat, whatever happens, she’ll have the best person to guide her.” He covers her hand with his own, intertwining their fingers before he brings it up to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “And what about you? Do you finally know?”

“Know what?”

“What makes you happy, Natasha Romanoff.”

She waits for the emptiness to sink in at the question, as it did the last time, but it never comes. Instead, when she looks back at him, staring into his eyes as their daughter’s laughter rings harmoniously in the background, there’s a confidence in her gut and a certainty in her bones. She shakes her head, beaming proudly. “With all of my heart.”

* * *

**LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST ON**  [SPOTIFY](https://open.spotify.com/user/6q8a9r9otov7zomnes1l8gl2u/playlist/3JEXzYiSE0MyLO9viZq9LQ?si=WwqLKvFORGuXjQnt2LgMWA)

**Author's Note:**

> Excerpts taken from chapters of [A Little Favor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924780/chapters/34574921)
> 
> All images courtesy of [Faith2nyc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith2nyc/pseuds/Faith2nyc). Please check out more of her work on [Tumblr](https://faith2nyc.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Faith2nyc_IG), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/faith2nyc_romanogers/)! 
> 
> Tumblr: [natrogersfics](http://www.natrogersfics.tumblr.com)


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